Julius Valken
Biography Early Life Julius was born to a family accountants, Illia and Walter Valken on Karsol with Zakara city being the place where he was raised. He was quite close to his family, especially his younger sister, Monica Valken. Upon graduating from university and becaming a reporter and journalist for the Empire at EGN where he was sent to numerous places across the galaxy, mainly warzones, where he covered the news and adventures, though the true story was often "modified" to appease the Empire's human interests. It took awhile for Julius to catch on and wake up to the situations around him as he had been filled with the false truths of the Empire from his early childhood. It was not until Julius found himself on the front-lines covering the actions on the planet Ulagesh that led to his awakening to the truth that he finally accepted the Empire's wrongs. Awakening to the Truth The planet known as Ulagesh was where one of the most prolonged, bloody and barbaric wars the Empire has ever taken part in with Julius directly in the center of things as he found himself fighting alongside soldiers for survival. During the war for control, Julius watched how both men and alien, were broken down until there was nothing left but shells of the soldiers sent into the combat zone by their superiors. It was there he began to question just what was the Empire trying to prove by invading the homes of other species and either wiping them out or enslaving them in the process. Soon, Julius found himself interviewing prisoners from the other side who told him how mistreated they were and the scenes Julius saw proved the pleads of the aliens true giving him the true picture and shattered his reality. Eventually he began sneaking out and began interviewing the local populace, despite orders not to interact with them, and heard their stories which opened his mind even more to just how foul the government and actions of the Empire had went after the war had ended. A Changed View Upon his temporary arrival back home, Julius began to use the media in various ways to try and press for reforms. No longer did he believe the lies that were being fed to the populace and when interviewed he even went as far to question and point out the Empire's faults whether it be himself speaking or his publications that he managed to spead around, hoping that it would make the people demand reform and change within their society. The end result, however, never could be achieved that could have iginited a spark, opening the eyes and minds of the populace on Karsol and neighbouring border worlds. His own colleagues turned on him, people who he had thought he could trust and they would have turned Julius in if it weren't for him having fled before they caught him. Regretfully, he missed his sister's graduation, despite a promise he had made to her, causing him to cut off all ties with his family for his sake and to avoid causing anymore problems that may threaten their security. Still, Julius pushed himself forward and began freelancing as a reporter and eventually as a mercenary when he found that he had to start putting himself in danger to continue gathering information and spreading it around with a number of contacts that he had gained over time; mainly aliens who saw his humble intentions and wanted to help. Eventually over the course of five years of staying under the radar and becoming one of the Empire's most wanted journalist, Julius found himself in the Paladins . Haken's Heroes Julius was one of the people to tale the job known as Operation: Terminate that Tallywacker to eliminate Adan for a man known as Haken Wastia. His presence during the job found him befriending a woman known as Autumn who was in search of her husband, Abraham Keyes after the escape of the planet known simply as Mall. He would also meet one Natasha Polyakov with initial greeting getting off to a very rocky start, yet despite that he would help her escape during the Mall incident. Later, when the team boarded Adan's vessel, they would face relatively light resistance before eventually facing Adan. After an intense fight, the team would manage to kill Adan but not before losing Tanya Sidorova. A death that would weigh heavily on his mind and in the future, make him question his own capabilities. The team and Julius then head to the planet known as Vegas to rescue Yvonne who had been captured and taken hostage by Haken's former girlfriend Kyla. The team would end up fighting those contracted to stop them and eventually another self-aware AI known as Rosencrantz that would be defeated while Haken attempted to rescue Yvonne. By the end, Kyla would be killed by Ray who had shown up and activated Rosencrantz, yet Yvonne and Haken would be safe. With the mission successful, Julius would get back to his usual work, but this experience would not be his last with many of the group. Beginnings on Villa Upon being found by the Paladins shortly, Julius found out the man who had requested him was none other than the infamous Axel upon going through an awkward conversation after he was brought to the Deity. He recorded most of the time he had and got on relatively friendly terms with Fred the Gizar until he got in a conversation with Guild, Haken's self-aware H.M.V where he discovered the origins of this intelligent AI. For the mission on Villa, Julius was paired with Ivanna and Fred, however, while searching for information, Julius got caught up in a magic act that he dragged Ivanna into which was actually performed by a member of the Gentlemen who managed to single Julius out in the crowd with ease. This led to both Ivanna and Julius being caught in a metal cage beneath the stage and threatened by two Gentlemen who demanded information on the others by breaking Julius' nose and holding Ivanna at gunpoint. Fred's arrival, however, created a distraction long enough for Julius to drop his modified camera which blinded the two Gentlemen giving the trio enough time to eliminate the Gentlemen. The magician who had imprisoned them in the first place, however, returned and shot Julius in the chest while he sent a large lion after Fred which clawed him and then began to crush him on the top of the cage after it had been killed by several shotgun shells. The magician was later killed upon mistaking Ivanna as a civillian affter coming too close to the cage. Both Julius and Fred would later recieve minor medical attention from the others sent to find them so they could get to their H.M.Vs as the Party began turning into a full-scale battle between the rebellion, the Jackals, and the Empire. Battle with the Jackals and Paladins During the mercs escape on the Sand Ship, they were pursued by the Jackals who were here to claim vengeance against Axel and his first group due to their people being wiped out in the past. During the battle, Julius' machine, the Spectre Mk V, was damaged after attempting to stop Fred from plummeting to earth only to be intercepted by the H.M.V known as th Samuria which led to the machine being being unable to cloak due to the damage its reactor had suffered. Luckily for Fred, the Dragon managed to rescue him before he slammed into the ground. Later, the Deity entered and retrieved the mercs before they were overwhelmned. As the team team recovered from the battle, Julius recorded a message to his family, finally telling them why he left and what he must as he knew in the types of mission they were taking on, there was a high chance of him never returning. Soon afterwards, Karen Armstrong and a large contingent of Paladins betrayed Karl Vladick for the Hydra League so they topple the Empire and the end result caused Axel to be taken to Oasis. This battle also had Julius aquire a PC-5 submachine gun from a fallen loyalist Paladin. Rescue Mission Just before the mission on Oasis, Julius recorded what may have been his final words to his parents and recorded the words of others who wanted some bit of closure before the end which he later sent to his contacts after the small party the group had to celebrate what could be their last days. He would also send information of Abraham to Autumn during that period, having finally found the man Autumn searched the galaxy for. During the actual mission, Julius was assigned with Yvonne, Aerion and Tara to infiltrate the facility and find Axel by drilling into the prison complex underneath the ocean. The group came under attack by rogue Paladins the moment they drilled through who had been given Scions, but despite the new fearsome machines, the group took no major damage and made it into the facility. Inside the group encountered Terra and after a short stand-off between her guard and the beginning of the Empire's bombardment, Julius found himself running after Tara who pursued Terra through the facility, but he could not catch up in time as Tara ended up dying, clutching his hand before passing away after being fatally wounded by an explosive arrow. Shortly afterwards, the Aerion and Yvonne caught up and they managed to save Axel who had been left to drown in his cell. The group returned to their mechs and regroup with the others to find the Empire facing them in force with the new Demented along with Ray's Hive and Khenan's Juggernaut and a large contingent of mechs putting the mercs in for the fight of their life. During the major engagement, Julius managed to disable the Juggernaut with his mech's EMP blade after a teamwork attempt with Krystal and Haruka allowing Abraham to smash the Juggernaut's cockpit forcing Khenan to eject. The battle raged, but eventually Karl disabled all the mercenary mechs in as effort to save them as their mechs were then put inside an Albatross which then took off leaving the planet and Karl behind despite Axel's objections. Arrival at Factory Upon arriving at Factory, Julius would recieve news of his world being attacked by the Travesti. This would be cause Julius to become unfocused with his mind focusing more on the future than present, already trying to predict what it would look like. It would not last long, however, for Ivanna Sidorova would confront the reporter and after breaking down on past mistakes and what he thought was his own fault, he realized the poor rational behind such ideas and spent the night together with Ivanna. Shortly afterwards, the Empire attacked and when the team got to their HMVs, Julius was assigned to Yvonne, Alliana, Aerion, and Ivanna, providing support fire for the team, but they would soon be engaged by the Hellknights with Earl James at the lead. The combat would become a stalemate due to Jame prefering to defeat his foes with honour until Ray Shishigami who would kill Ivanna by plunging a spear through her HMV much to the horror of Julius. Soon, after the team had managed to drive Ray away with the aid of Axel, the entire group would proceed to finding a way off-world only to be captured by the Empire when Axel's father, Decel, sacrifices himself and a large portion of Factory to kill Kurt Norrick. Slaves of the Empire On being captured, Julius would confront Ray, having been placed in the same cell. Showing no fear on the outside, Julius would question the infamous assassin. He would also speak with Axel, along with many others, and with Terrance's help, they group would be able to get their leader to leave his shell that he had taken up upon the death of his father. Julius, along with the rest of Axel's team would join the Empire due to the threat of death to destroy Fury at Brimstone. Accepting the offer, Julius would prepare and get a few words with his sister over his communicator, recieving information of Karsol's situation and is grateful to know his sister is still alive. Arriving at Brimstone, Julius would aid Axel and his team against both the Travesti fortresses and Devils at the surface of the world while also fighting against Maxgrit and his Tzeenosaurs and later, Fury. He would survive the encounter and manage to escape along with the rest of the team off-world before Brimstone was sucked into a rift created by Alliana Mikalovich. Homeworld Upon arriving at Homeworld, Julius would say goodbye to the Gizlar who had been one of his few friends, Fred, who had sustained serious injuries, recording his final words to the team and being with him until he passed away ontop. When the Empire decided to turn some of the mercenaries against each other who were part of Axel's team by the use of body-controlling bionics, Julius would be faced off against Abraham Keyes who had become a close friend by this time when they were simply exploring Homeworld. Rather than fight his friend after being thrown into one of the many stores, Julius decided to escape and leave a message behind after managing to interpret a message from the part of Abraham that he knew. He would return to the Imperial base where the rest of the team was as the Reclaimers arrived and began to create havoc leaving a very disorganized and wartorn Homeworld within moments. Abraham, however, would force the reporter to act, threatening to kill himself and while Julius waited for aid to confront Abraham, the Ossyrian would charge out of the room he was in and almost killed the reporter until he managed to take control of himself at the last moment and fatally shot himself where the bionics had been implanted. Upon this, Julius would momentarily break down once again as he was unable to save his friend, but as Yvonne and Haruka arrived he would manage to collect himself and carry on, facing the monstrosity that was Will with Haruka's aid while managing to knock Axel down while he was still under Imperial control thanks to his HMV allowing him to be severed from the Empire's leash. The Forefathers, the Overlord, and the Team's End Julius was one to decide to help Howard and his Reclaimers, though he held back stating his opinion openly and waited for Axel to decide resulting in the hijacking of the Crossbones ''as Axel shot, but did not kill, Howard while the massive HMV of nanites known as the Overlord distracted the Tzeenosaurs surrounding them. The ''Crossbones, however was unable to escape the Overlord forcing an engagement. Julius was one of those who decided the Overlord must be destroyed to prevent it from leaving the world and wrecking havoc according to the goals of the Forefathers who had just emerged, taking control of the bodies of imperial officials including Kincaid for their use. He would help the Devils and the Hellknights face the massive warmachine in battle and would later join Axel and the remaining members of the team for one last mission. Managing to infiltrate the Overlord thanks to the aid of the Demented and the Jotun, Julius would face a Forefather under the guise of Dolos and would sustain considerable wounds in battle as the near-god-like figure disappeared and reappeared until the reporter managed to trick the Forefather that his weapon was empty and ended the Forefather's life with a single round. Against Odyn, Julius would do his best to end the Forefather's life with the the entire team, but most attacks had no effect and it was not until HMVs managed to force the Odyn out of the Overlord and into the earth that he was silenced. Julius would then remain on Homeworld to show his respects to the fallen before disappearing, not attending the party afterwards to return to a place where he truly missed all his life during his life on the run, Karsol. A New Galaxy, A New Start Julius would return home to Karsol after finding transport in the war-torn galaxy and with the aid of those who knew the truth, mainly Henschel Wolfgang and his sister, his name would be cleared from not just Empire, but also Karsian records for the sake of legitimacy and public knowledge. Soon afterwards, Julius would begin, with the aid of other like minded individuals and funding from a few supporters, he would start an organization to continue what he previously did, but on a larger scale: reveal the truth, keep the galaxy informed, and ensure word of corruption spread to ensure action would be taken, though occasionally this group would intervene when required should there be high risks with no chance of aid due to beaurcracy. He would also start a small family by adopting an orphaned girl known as Mira Ferner rather than marrying and having his own children, part of him, he claims, simply unable to move on, even if it could have never worked out with Ivanna if she had survived. Personality and Traits Julius is one to observe others and will often stick his nose into anything of interest. He has a resentment to those who fail to tell the truth or hide behind a veil of lies, prefering people to be honest whether what their true nature is. Despite this, he is a relatively kind person and will very rarely become enraged, prefering to focus on reality which has only continued since his short time with Ivanna, vowing to keep a promise he had made to her. He has no trouble killing people for his conscience when it comes to defense, but he will try to avoid violence whenever he gets the chance and will generally avoid fights unless the worst comes to worst. He is particulary unfound of those who enjoy violence, but over his years as a mercenary he has grown to accept that the business he has found himself in is not for the light-hearted and will work together with those characters if needed. Alternative version The cinematic version of the character. In the event of the movie, Julius leads group B of Axel's gang for the infiltration of an Imperial complex, where everything goes wrong. This pushes him to try to uncover the possible mole ... Category:Characters